The No. 1-rated abs exercise is the bicycle crunch, where you alternately touch elbows to knees from a supine position. But it’s not the most exciting exercise in the world, and you may simple prefer to sneak over to hang out with the cool kids in the barbells area of the gym. You have plenty of choices -- effective ones -- to work the core with barbells. Perform a selection or two from your barbell abs exercises once or twice a week, for three sets of eight to 12 reps.

Barbell Ab Rollouts

If you’ve ever seen an ab wheel in use at the gym, with its lawnmower-sized wheel and grip handles, you known where this is going -- a barbell loaded with two 5-pound weights also can serve as an ab wheel. You work the rectus abdominis, the long vertical muscle of the abdomen revealed when you have six-pack abs, with this exercise, which entails standing, rolling the barbell out in front of you until you are prone and then returning to a standing position. Variations include starting from your knees instead of standing if you are newer to ab work.

Jammers

Barbell jammers can provide an excellent abs focus, as well as being a full-body exercise involving the arms, back, chest and legs. You place the free end of the bar in a corner of the floor where it won’t shift and add a collared weight plate to the other end. You can also create a corner out of screwed-together blocks of wood held in place by dumbbells and weight plates. From a deep squat, holding the bar in both hands, fully straighten to a stand and complete a forward lean on your toes. Variations include moving more explosively to work on your power as opposed to strength and doing jammer torso rotations, standing in place and swinging the barbell end from one hip to another while twisting your torso.

Other Standing Exercises

Another option is barbell woodchoppers, which is swinging the barbell end down strongly toward one side of the body at a time, again with the free end snuggled into a corner. Or perform the barbell side bend, achieved by lifting the barbell off a squat rack onto your shoulders and bending side to side to hit the obliques. And even barbell squats, lunges and step-ups can work the abs -- if you keep the bar overhead rather than in a hanging position in front of your thighs or on the back of your shoulders.

Seated Exercises

You can turn the press situp -- a seated exercise -- into an abs challenge by performing it on a decline bench. Start lying back on the bench, barbell on your chest, and perform a situp simultaneously with a press before returning to the starting position. Another option is the seated barbell twist, which instead focuses on the obliques, as you sit on a regular bench, turning the barbell on your shoulders while you twist side to side, keeping your head and lower body stationary.

About the Author

An award-winning writer and editor, Rogue Parrish has worked at the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun and at newspapers from England to Alaska. This world adventurer and travel book author, who graduates summa cum laude in journalism from the University of Maryland, specializes in travel and food -- as well as sports and fitness. She's also a property manager and writes on DIY projects.